Recently, several rumors have been circulating about when Speaker Paul Ryan will retire from Congress. According to The Hill, Ryan has considered retiring after the 2018 midterm elections.

The report came after another source, Politico, said that Ryan’s closest friends admitted that this term would be his last. The source interviewed over 30 of Ryan’s aides, colleagues, as well as lobbyists and allies.

They said that “not a single person believed Ryan will stay in Congress past 2018.”

While the rumors continue to swirl, Ryan is attempting to shrug them off. He has been working on extreme tax reform and he has been ignoring questions about his alleged departure from Congress.

On Thursday, several reporters asked Ryan about quitting Congress after the tax reform deal is passed. According to the Washington Examiner, he simply laughed off the questions and began talking about next year’s agenda instead.

He said, “Next year is going to be the year where we work on people. Next year is the year we work on getting people where they need to get in life, in better jobs, an actual career, closing the skills gap.”

The Speaker continued, saying that his focus in 2018 would be reforming the welfare system with a welfare-to-work proposal. He also said that Congress would work on a continued healthcare reform.

Ryan said that with the passing of the tax reform, the “new economic challenge for America” will be people and figuring out how to accommodate the vast numbers signing up for Medicare.

He said, “When we have tens of millions of people right here in this country, falling short of their potential not working, not looking for a job or not in school getting a skill to get a job, that’s a problem. So that’s why we need to tackle these things.”

For now, Ryan has not said anything about his plans to retire from Congress and just continues to laugh off the question. We will continue to update as more information is revealed.